Collaboration with respect to an electronic document can be performed in a variety of scenarios via any number of collaborative software applications. Collaborative software applications, or “groupware”, enable multiple users to perform a common task. The term groupware refers to a set of features of a software platform that assist multiple persons—or for that matter a single person—working in a coordinated fashion on a task. Often, version control, reversible editing, and attribution are provided. The software can have functionality including content creation and editing, annotation, voice, video, chat, and combinations thereof.
Collaboration scenarios may be categorized into one of two modes defined by time—synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous scenarios entail a real-time environment, where collaboration can appear to be simultaneous. Asynchronous scenarios may be carried out offline, in series or in parallel, and/or among participants that work on their own versions of a file that are then merged.